Cause
Users are unable to upgrade the firmware of the Network Management Card 2 (NMC) due to an interrupted or failed firmware upgrade attempt or because they are not able to communicate with the NMC over the network.

Note: Downgrades are not typically recommended but this method can also be used in certain circumstances.Note: For users upgrading (or downgrading) their Network Management Card 2 device from v5.X.X to v6.X.X, please review knowledge base FA167693 to understand several important considerations.

Resolution
The BootMonitor is roughly equivalent to the BIOS in a computer system. It offers users the ability to connect to it by using a serial communications cable. Once connected the user can query the BootMonitor for NMC related information, upload firmware files and reset/format the NMC by issuing relevant commands (a full list of commands is available in Appendix A at the end of this guide).
The following steps highlight how to connect to the NMC BootMonitor (Steps 1 - 3), how to reset the card to the default factory settings (Steps 4 - 5) and how to upload firmware files by using XMODEM (Steps 6 - 10).

Connect to the NMC by using the supplied communication cable (940-0299 for AP9630, AP9631, AP9635, SRT UPS embedded NMC or 940-0144 for AP84XX, AP86XX, AP88XX, and AP89XX). Connect the RS232 connector to the serial port of the computer and connect the other end of the cable to the NMC Console port.

Note: An USB to serial adapter can also be used if a serial port is not available on the computer.

In a terminal emulator application (for example Tera Term or Hyperterminal) configure the following port settings:

Bits per second / Baud rate

57600

Data bits

8

Parity

None

Stop bits

1

Flow control

None

Press the Reset button on the NMC (or reseat - unplug/replug the NMC back into the card slot) then immediately and consistently press the Enter key on the keyboard.

Note: Getting access to the BootMonitor is very time sensitive and may take a few attempts to get it right.

Note: If you are using HyperTerminal set the port settings as described in Step 2 and try to connect to the NMC. If it does not work go to Call -> Disconnect, then go to File -> Properties, click on the Configure button and check the port settings. Reconnect by going to Call -> Call, reseat the NMC or press the Reset button on the NMC then continuously press Enter on the keyboard – you should now see the message displayed below.

After successfully connecting to the NMC BootMonitor the following message appears:

Rhodes BootMonitor
BM>

Looking at the NMC network port the orange Status LED will flash (approximately twice per second).

(Optional) Issue the factory_reset command to reset the card to default factory settings.

Note: The factory_reset command is only available with Network Management Cards running BootMonitor v1.0.8 and newer. If you are not sure about the current BootMonitor version installed on the NMC type the sysinfo command to retrieve the version numbers.

(Optional) Enter the factory_reset_confirm command to confirm the reset.

Note: The factory_reset_confirm command is only available with NMC running BootMonitor v1.0.8 and newer. If you are not sure about the current BootMonitor version installed on the NMC type the sysinfo command to retrieve the version numbers.

BM>factory_reset_confirmFormatting File System .......

After the reset process completes the BootMonitor prompt appears:

BM>

Download and extract the NMC firmware files on the local computer. You can download the latest NMC firmware files from here.

To update the firmware on the NMC you need to upload the bootmon firmware file, the aos firmware file and the application module firmware file, in this exact order. To upload the firmware files issue the xmodem command. After issueing the xmodem command you should see C 's appearing after the command indicating the card is ready for the file transer:

Note:Always upload the bootmon firmware file first (if a newer version is available it will be present in the files downloaded in Step 6; if the card already has the latest bootmon installed proceed with uploading the AOS firmware file). Next upload the AOS firmware file and lastly the application module firmware file.